The Great North Run, Sunday 11th September, 2016

The Great North Run is the biggest half-marathon in the world! Team recruitment was good this year, rivalling that in 2015, with nearly 70 registering to participate, many but not all of them staff and students at Newcastle University. Injury, illness and conflicting responsibilities conspired to reduce that number to about 60 people prior to the big day, which dawned warm and sunny – perfect for the spectators, but not so good for runners wanting to improve on their times!

A good number turned out for the Team Photo on the morning of the Run and they made a fine sight, doing their now traditional ‘Mo Farah’ and ‘Usain Bolt’ impersonations! The team included four university professors and Dr Phil Ansell, the university’s Dean of Sport, and Prof Emma Stevenson, Professor of Sport Science, joined them for Pre-Run photo’s.

After the Pre-Run photo’s, the Team Manager, David Golding, went across to the Finish and took ‘shattered but triumphant’ photo’s of team members. Whilst waiting for them, he enjoyed the spectacle of the aerial acrobatics provided by the Red Arrows.

Two team members came up from London to take part – namely, Charlie Tunmore, until recently a member of JDC staff, and Alysa Remtulla, a staff member at STOPAIDS. Both spoke on behalf of the campaigns on the previous evening, at a high-profile meeting to celebrate the Run attended by several community leaders and about 60 supporters of North East CALL TO ACTION, a regional member of JDC.

The team raises sponsorship funds for JDC and the wider global poverty and climate change campaigns and, excluding the present year, has raised over £180,000.

Photo’s, courtesy of Crispian Oates (Pre-Run) and David Golding (Post-Run):

“We are the inheritors of a long struggle for justice. When Wilberforce was fighting against slavery, it was the time. When Martin Luther King was marching against racism, it was the time. When as young students we danced against apartheid, it was the time. Now we have recognised the oppression of the debt crisis. We are going to tackle this injustice with all our might. So we cannot stop.”
Farai Siyachitema-Maruza